Gandhi: Your New Body Image Guru
5 Things Gandhi Can Teach Us About Body Image
Mahatma Gandhi, known as the father of the Indian Independence movement, dedicated his life to fighting oppression and discrimination. He is famous for his ability to use non-violent protest to inspire social change and has influenced major civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King.
But if you didn’t know anything at all about Gandhi and his work, you might read his teachings and think that he was a body image guru. Let me explain.
Gandhi has been inspiring oppressed groups for generations, giving marginalized groups coping mechanisms and wisdom that sustained and inspired them through the toughest of times. And when you think about it, body shaming is really just another form of oppression.
In my opinion, anyone who has ever felt oppressed or marginalized (and really, who hasn’t??) can stand to learn a thing or two from Gandhi’s teachings. Here are some of my favorite Gandhi quotes and how they can inspire us to adopt a healthier mindset toward body image. For those of you who know me, my perspective is focused on body image as it relates to breast size, but these lessons can benefit anyone suffering from image insecurities.
#1: Sustained effort is its own reward
We all know the old adage, “Happiness is in the journey, not the destination.” Happiness research in the field of positive psychology echoes this philosophy as well.
Think about this in the context of plastic surgery or any other “quick-fix” cosmetic change. If your end goal is increased confidence so that you can be a happier version of you, when you fast-forward and try to acquire that in one go, you skip over the whole journey of developing that confidence on your own. It may be a longer road to do the tough mental work of practicing the courage to accept your body “as-is,” but the sustained effort of that process will bring you much greater satisfaction.
#2: A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
This statement is hugely powerful. If you tell yourself that you’ll never be as confident as that model in the bikini, then you won’t. You’ll continue to be insecure and wish that you looked different than you do. That sounds pretty terrible.
What if instead of focusing on what you’re missing, you focus on what you do have? Even if you’ve been telling yourself your whole life that your breasts, thighs, nose, etc. are inadequate or unattractive, it’s still completely possible reorient your perspective. It’s never too late.
The mind is a very powerful thing, and if it created something, then it can undo it. As Buddha reminds us, “Since everything is a reflection of our minds, everything can be changed by our minds.”
Imagine if we obsessed about the things that we love about ourselves??
#3: An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
Lead by example. Be a model for others to follow.
This also means that you should be forthright about your actions. If you’re doing something that you don’t feel comfortable having others know about, then you’re not being a true role model. True leaders practice what they preach.
When I realized that I was actually embarrassed about my desire to get implants, to the point that I started brainstorming ways to sneakily get them so that it wouldn’t be obvious to my co-workers, I concluded that it definitely wasn’t the right decision for me. It mattered to me that people view me as a strong, self-assured woman, and I didn’t want others to know about my desire to get surgery because I felt that it exposed a weakness. It made me feel like a fraud.
What is the best version of you? What do you want to exemplify? The girl with the perfect appearance, or the girl who has the courage to accept imperfection and own it? Are you walking the walk for who you want to be?
#4: Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony
When you think about your core values, the ideals and beliefs that matter most to you, do your words and actions align with those values?
What matters most to you? Write down your top three values. For me, integrity, acceptance, and courage are a few of my most essential values.
Typically, we think about values as useful guides for the way we approach relationships with others and navigate external events. But values are equally as important for guiding the relationship we have with ourselves.
If we don’t have alignment between our core belief system and the relationship that we have with ourselves, we will never be happy. You may think that attaining the stereotypically perfect figure is a means to becoming a more confident, and thus happier, version of you. But happiness will always evade you if the actions you take to get there don’t reflect your most essential values.
The psychological theory of cognitive dissonance helps shed some light on this. Cognitive dissonance refers to humans’ inner drive to avoid disharmony between our behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes. In other words, it makes us unsettled when our behaviors (e.g. getting plastic surgery) contradict our beliefs (I shouldn’t care what others think), so we take certain measures to avoid this disharmony.
We can do this by acquiring more information, rationalizing what we think, or changing our behavior altogether. Rationalization is easier than behavioral change, so many people default to this method. Yet, ironically, our rationalizations are often not all that rational over the long term.
For instance, we might rationalize that we want plastic surgery merely for practical reasons. You’ve heard the story before: “I’m getting surgery for me. I just want to feel more proportional in my clothes.” I was guilty of this myself.
Rationalizations like this make us feel better in the short term because we’ve aligned our belief (I’m getting plastic surgery for me — not just to fit in) more closely with our future behavior (getting implants). Yet over the long term, this flip-flop in our beliefs doesn’t serve us well — especially if the behavior we’re justifying doesn’t reflect our core value set.
In my personal situation, I ultimately realized that plastic surgery was not the right choice for me because it fueled an unhealthy obsession with perfectionism and was at odds with my core values. Because of this, I knew that telling myself I was “only doing this for me” wasn’t going to help me feel better about myself in the long run. So rather than rationalize my thoughts in order to feel better temporarily, I chose to change my behavior to better align with my values. In short, I let go of my desire to get surgery. It was hard to shift my behavior, but I am so happy I did and I have never felt better about myself.
Consider what you’re doing to reduce any disharmony you feel between what you believe and the way that you treat your body. Are your mental rationalizations healthy? Or would you be more content over the long term if you changed your behavior?
#5: Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.
I want to add a line to this that says “seek not more perfect beauty, but more realistic expectations.”
Gandhi’s original quote is about the idea that feeling satisfied with what you do and who you are will lead to greater contentment than acquiring more things and money will.
Possessions, status, and money used to be the main metrics of success. But in today’s increasingly narcissistic, perfectionistic, and beauty-obsessed culture, outward appearance has become an equally important indicator of success. All you have to do is take a look at the explosive popularity of the fitness and plastic surgery industries in the past decade to see this.
Now more than ever, people feel inordinate pressure to attain the perfect body — especially women. To truly “make it” these days you have to have more than financial wealth, a great career, and social status; you also need wrinkle-free skin, a perfectly toned physique, and the “right-sized” figure. Oh, and by the way, you’re expected to maintain that throughout most of your life. This is utterly unattainable.
It’s important to constantly remind ourselves that these expectations are unrealistic. Beauty is personal for everyone. And each person is going to have a different opinion on what is beautiful or appealing for them. That’s what makes life interesting. You will never derive contentment from chasing unrealistic standards. True, lasting contentment comes from our ability to remain stable and grounded, regardless of how beautiful our figure may be in our 20s, or how much our bodies may change through aging, illness, or other life changes outside our control.
If You Want More Ideas Like This:
Sign up for my newsletter and receive a free copy of my eBook:
- How to Gain Unbreakable Body Confidence: 8 Principles for Transforming How You View Yourself
This article originally appeared on www.YourBreastSelf.com. Thank you for reading!
